Valencia WSBK (spoiler!)

[brd]

Anybody catch the WSBK races from Valencia yesterday? The first 3 or 4 laps of the first race were almost interesting, but, otherwise, what a snoozer.

Even the broadcast seemed to indicate how boring it was. The 2nd race coverage was almost all shots of the Foggy Petronas bike, Chili on the old Duc and the GSXR1000 (Steve Martin, I think? heh) because they were somewhat close.

I was sorry to see Corser crash out on the FP1 the first race, but at least he finished the 2nd. 7th place (I think?) too. Not bad for their first ever race. And those flames spitting from the back of the Petronas machine were pretty wild.

Looks like Hodgson is going to walk away with this year. Xaus is the only one that could be competitive, IMHO, and I think if he were going to pull off a win, he would have done it there in Spain (his homecourt).

Oh well, only 6 more days till Daytona! :chug:

[hillcountry]

I agree about the snoozing. After Corser crashed in the first race and I saw how things were going, I actually agreed to go shopping with the wife instead of watching the second race. From what I've seen so far, I think I made the right decision

Bill

[Tourmeister]

Howdy,

It must really suck for Hodgson. He works so hard all these years to get to WSB and when he is finally competitive, everyone bails, gutting the class. Winning the championship this year couldn't possibly be as satisfying as say Colin's win last year. Not that it would suck, but still...

Can't wait for MotoGP :dude:

Adios,

[buck000]

I guess one thing about being a newbie to both moto riding and watching moto racing is that even when the race is a snoozer, I still like to watch their technique. :bow:

[brd]

I guess one thing about being a newbie to both moto riding and watching moto racing is that even when the race is a snoozer, I still like to watch their technique. :bow:

Yeah, it is still interesting. I just started watching racing last year, myself. But I got so spoiled by races like WSBK Race 2 at Imola (edwards and bayliss made about 4 passes the last lap alone! :eek:) that Valencia was just ... boring. After about 3 laps you could see that Factory Ducs followed by GSE Ducs was a foregone conclusion.

Though why were the factory ducs so much better? Even the announcers said that the 999 technically shouldn't be any faster than last year's bikes. Or is that only in a straight line? And I do give Hodgson and Xaus some credit, but still, they were able to pull away somewhat effortlessly.

[Tourmeister]

Howdy,

Remember that each bike of a particular model does not make the exact same power. This is a result of manufacture variation on the parts. Some pistons are slightly better than others, etc,... Non factory guys have to buy all their parts so the number they have to play with is limited. The factory guys though have access to tons of parts. They literally go through all the parts looking for the ones that will help them make the most power. This may sound trivial, but it can make a significant difference in horsepower.

Then there are just all the other things you can do to a bike when you have loads of cash to throw at it. Porting the intakes for more efficient flow or a host of other goodies.

At the speeds these guys run, and as close as they run, a difference of a few HP can mean a few tenths of a second or more per lap. That is an eternity in racing.

Adios,